The Truth about Magickal Genes
by beckytiger
Summary: Now finished! Hermione is growing, McGonagall suspects intergenerational magic. Rated as R not for lewdness of content, but because the relationship disclosed may disturb some people.
1. Chapter One - Hermione Hits a Growth Spu...

First, in my universe, Hermione goes off like a rocket. She's smart, brave, loyal... and a tinderbox. Second, she grew to be 6'2" in her fifth year. This fiction explains how that happened.  
  
Disclaimer: I just exercise the characters for J.K. Rowling. Sigh. I will profit in no way from this.  
  
Important note: this fic starts out pretty innocent, right? It will get icky. It may go places you'd rather not go. If you come to such a place, bail out immediately. I will give some warning, hopefully without ruining the surprise.  
  
Chapter One - A Growth Spurt.  
  
"Hermione, what's wrong with you? You've grown three inches in the last six weeks." exclaimed Ron. "You're not doing magic on yourself, are you?"  
"No!" snapped Hermione. "I'm not! I've just hit a growth spurt."  
"A really big growth spurt." snorted Ron. "You've grown five inches so far this term. It's not natural. We should go to see Madam Pomfrey."   
After much persuasion from Ron and Harry, Hermione agreed to visit the infirmary and try to find an explanation of her sudden growth; since she was now taller than Harry and the same height as Ron. But Madam Pomfrey, after an examination, could not provide an answer.  
"How peculiar!" she pronounced. "You don't seem to have been charmed, hexed, cursed, or in any way magickally tampered with. Are your parents tall?"  
"No. See, Ron, I told you it was normal." said Hermione. Madam Pomfrey cut off whatever reply Ron was contemplating.  
"Your parents are muggles, yes?" she asked.  
"Yes."  
"No one in your family is magickal?"  
"No."  
"How very, very strange." Madam Pomfrey's face took on a thoughtful cast. "It could be some intergenerational magic, perhaps even from several generations ago. As your parents are muggles it wouldn't have come out in them. I think we'd better get Professor McGonagall in."  
"No, it's all ok." Hermione began to protest, but was silenced by a premptory wave of Madam Pomfreys hand.  
"Best be on the safe side, dear."  
  
"Well, well, inexplicable growth, no sign of magic, yes it could very well be intergenerational." declared McGonagall. "I'll have to research your family a little, Hermione, do you mind?"  
"No," sighed Hermione, impatiently. " but I'm sure it will be a waste of time."  
"Better to be safe than sorry, Miss Granger." replied McGonagall briskly. Hermione shot a death glare at Ron and Harry for insisting on getting her into this. "Parents' names?"  
"Yale Granger and Beth Swithin."  
"Grandparents' names?"  
"Father's parents, Venn Granger and Abigail Fountain, I think."  
"Your mother's parents?"  
"I don't know. She was adopted at an early age."  
"Really?" questioned McGonagall. "I'll look into that immediately." After a few more questions, McGonagall let them go, promising to let them know as soon as she had found an explanation.  
"There won't be an explanation." insisted Hermione, as they trailed back to the Common Room. "It's all perfectly normal." Ron snorted, and Hermione glared at him. He clutched his chest.  
"Aghh... her killer death glares are magnified when they come from the same height!" he moaned theatrically. "Don't look at her, Harry, they could be fatal to someone shorter." Even Hermione could not help but shake her head in amusement at Ron's playfulness.  
  
McGonagall was searching records. Some hours later, her face drawn in the candlelight, she looked up and stared blankly at the wall.  
"Vesta..." she whispered. "Oh, what have I done?"  
  
----  



	2. Chapter Two - A Memory Resurfaces.

This chapter may be icky. It invloves two characters that you may prefer not to see in an initimate relationship. One of these characters happens to also be very underage. Please bail out immediately you become nauseous. Also, I am not much good at dialect, so excuse any inaccuracies in my clumsy rendition of Hagrid's speech.  
  
Disclaimers as for previous chapter.  
  
Chapter Two - A Memory Resurfaces.  
  
McGonagall sat shakily in Hagrid's hut, watching him make a cup of tea. When he sat down opposite her, she drew in a deep breath and tried to gather her courage.  
"Hagrid, there is something I have to tell you."  
"If it's about them Spotted Garden Quallbiters...." he began, but McGonagall raised a hand to silence him.  
"No, no, it's not about school now, Rubeus, my old friend." She stopped, and looked at her hands in her lap. "Do you remember when we met each other at school? You were always in trouble for sneaking in creatures...."  
"An' yeh was always top o' the class, an' nivver noticed me." finished Hagrid.  
"Yes, well, Rubeus, it is that which I want to speak to you about. About the time I did notice you. You can't remember it, of course, because I put a memory charm on you." Hagrid began to look alarmed, as McGonagall continued, "But now, circumstances have changed, and, at last, I have to remove it." She raised her wand, and there was a bang as Hagrid fell out of his chair. Fang the boarhound raced to his side, howling, but Hagrid could not hear him. He was floating in a memory more than fifty years old, to a spring day in his second year, when Minerva had been in her seventh.  
  
"Staying for the holidays are you, Hagrid?" drawled Tom Riddle. "Sneaking off to wrestle trolls in the Forbidden Forest after you've finished stuffing your face with cakes?" He made a contemptuous gesture to the nearly empty plate in front of Hagrid, and Hagris flushed red and mumbled something. Though only half grown, he was still a big and clumsy boy, over six foot tall already. Riddle smiled mockingly.  
"I'd watch out in the forest, Hagrid. I just saw Minerva McGonagall running down there, upset about something." He watched the boy's face with cool, malicious amusement. "One could almost say, in fact, that it is your duty, as a Gryffindor, to rescue her, could one not?" he finished smoothly, smile stretching into a smirk as Hagrid flushed even deeper. "She would be guaranteed to notice you then, wouldn't she? She'd be grateful, in fact. You'd be her hero."  
Hagrid muttered something inaudible, pushed back his chair, and raced out of the castle toward the forest, followed by sneering laughter. He did not care, he was intent on finding Minerva McGonagall.  
She was crouched under a tree with her eyes closed, her fisted hands pushing into them, but she looked up at his approach. As he came to an embarassed halt she gazed at him with a very strange expression on her face. Hagrid gazed fixedly at his feet.  
"I jus' thought I'd check yeh're ok." he mumbled to his toes. "Silly thought, 'course yeh're fine, yeh a top student..." his voice died and he turned to shuffle away.  
"Wait." commanded McGonagall, softly. She rose to her feet and gently touched Hagrid's arm just above the elbow. "It's Hagrid, isn't it? Rubeus Hagrid?"  
"Yes." he admitted nervously, wondering what was coming next. He was astounded, but thrilled, excited, and amazed at his good fortune, when she reached up on tip toes to press her lips to his.  
"Don't go." she whispered, pulling him down under the tree with her. "Stay right here with me." She sat on his lap and kissed him again. Hagrid was nearly delirious with joy at having his secret dream come true - Minerva McGonagall, a young woman with beauty, poise, and a powerful mind, had noticed him. Liked him. Wanted him. He returned her kiss clumsily but with enthusiasm, and soon was a master of the art. He put his new skill into use by kissing her neck, while she unbuttoned their robes. They had made love beneath the tree, then had wandered through the forest in a blissful haze for three long, springtime days, dodging both the less pleasant inhabitants of the forest and the search parties sent out by the school. Hagrid had shown her the beauty of the forest, and she had shown him the beauty of their bodies together.  
He lay beneath another tree, watching Minerva sleep pressed against him, light dappling over her body. The play of sun and shade was frivolous and ephemeral, not like Minerva. She was intense, laughing and working with equal fervour; curious, disciplined, steadfast. Hagrid loved her, with all the adoration of a young boy, but more than that. He was also tenacious, like the earth itself. She stirred in her dream, and Rubeus ran his hand over her back, gently tracing the shifting shadows. She stretched slowly, and he kissed her as her eyes fluttered open.  
Then it happened. Hagrid went cold as Minerva dragged herself away from him, hunched over as if in pain, rocking back and forth on her heels.  
"Oh, what have I done?" she moaned softly, as her suddenly shadowed eyes took in the scene. Hagrid started to talk, his eyes concerned, his hand reaching out for her, jerking back as if scalded when she flinched back. She grabbed her wand from the pile of clothes nearby.  
"I'm so sorry, Rubeus, I'm so sorry. But this is all I can think of to do." There was a bang, and the three halycon days had been out of waking memory for Rubeus Hagrid. Until now.  
  
He opened his eyes to find Fang whimpering and licking his face. He rose shakily to his feet and collapsed onto a chair. McGonagall, very pale, pushed a glass of homebrew into his hand, and took a steadying gulp from her own. Hagrid swallowed down the brew like a life preserver.  
"W - why?" he stammered, unable to articulate more.  
"Why did I seduce you and then wipe your memory?" she asked. "Tom Riddle. The mastermind of so many devious plans - including this one. He put a love charm on me, that I would love for three days the next person I saw. I heard him clearly, however, and took care to keep my hands over my eyes. Someone led me to the Forest, to wait there until it wore off. Then I saw you. You know the rest."  
"Then why...?"  
"Tell you now?" she asked. "Because you don't know the whole story." She gestured at his glass. "Drink some more, then I'll finish the story." She poured more homebrew into their glasses, and Hagrid drank it as if it was water. He stared at Minerva, tears starting in his eyes.  
"I bin in love with yeh most o' me life, an' now I know why." he sobbed. "Dreamin' about yeh..."  
"Rubeus..."  
"Nivver thought yeh'd look at me." he continued.  
"Rubeus, I haven't told you everything." Hagrid stopped crying, and sniffed dolefully, gazing at her tired face.   
"After the Memory Charm you were unconscious. I got you dressed, went back to the school and told Dumbledore the entire thing. He made an excuse for our absence; that you had been injured in the forest and that I had nursed you for three days before being able to seek help. That's the story you've always believed, right?" Hagrid nodded.  
"Well," she continued, "just when I thought everything would be fine, everyone accepted the story, Riddle had stopped sneering, and you and I were friends, I found out." She shuddered, and Hagrid's hand closed over hers. "I found out I was pregnant."   
Hagrid went, if possible, even paler under his beard. He swayed on his chair and McGonagall virtually forced more homebrew down his throat.  
"Why didn't yeh tell me?" he demanded hoarsely.  
"How could I, Rubeus? I'd charmed away your memory, saved you the embarassment, the bitterness, the shame, how could I take that back? And how would the school have reacted? I thought it was for the best, you were little more than a child yourself. No, I went back to Dumbledore. It was easily concealed since the term was nearly over. We checked, and found that the baby would be a Muggle, so she was adopted out. Because she's a Muggle, your giant blood never came out in her. But her daughter: her daughter is a witch, and she is growing." McGonagall paused to sip some more homebrew. "This will be hard for you, Rubeus." she said gently. "I'm so sorry. It's Hermione."  
Hagrid broke down in noisy tears, so did McGonagall, their hands still clenched together over the table. At last Fang, perhaps fearing a flood, began to howl noisily with their sobs, and Minerva smiled shakily at Rubeus, who mopped his face with a hankerchief and tried to soothe Fang.  
  
"Rubeus, when you were expelled I felt so guilty." admitted Minerva later, as they talked quietly over the table, hands still clutched together. "If I hadn't said you'd been sneaking around in the forest, Riddle might not have got away with blaming you. I might have told the whole story then, but I didn't find out about it for a few months, and then it was too late."  
"Don' blame yehself, Minerva." said Hagrid. "That Riddle was nothin' but trouble. He just would'ave framed someone else."  
"It's funny to think that he is responsible for the birth of Hermione Granger." said Minerva, thoughtfully. "I wonder what sort of magickal bond that gives them."  
"I dunno that I wan' teh find out, and I bet 'Ermione don't neither."   
They talked until dawn streaked the sky, and Hagrid yawned hugely and swayed on his seat. McGonagall helped him to his bed, where he fell asleep immediately. McGonagall also yawned, and curled up right where she was next to him.  
  
----  
Breathe deep, we're through the seriously weird stuff, though the next chapter has it's surprises too.  
Oh, yeah, and do the maths before you complain about my chronology. So far as I and my trusty assistant can make it, Minerva McGonagall is 70. Hagrid was 13 when the Chamber of Secrets was opened the first time, and 63 when it was opened the second time, making him 65 now. Thus, McGonagall must have been in her seventh year when Hagrid was in his second, and they must both have been contemporaries of Tom Riddle. If McGonagall had Hermione's mum when she was 18, that makes her 52 now. Hermione is 15, so her mother (Beth Granger) must have been 37 when she had Hermione. A little unusual, sure, but she and her husband are both dentists, so it is possible she was a pioneering career woman. So, there you go. It all fits.  
  
  



	3. Chapter Three - Hermione gets Curious an...

Disclaimer as for chapter one. Things keep on keeping on.  
  
Chapter Three - Hermione is Curious and Decides to Go to The Library.  
  
They woke late the next morning, snuggled chastely together, hair messed and clothes rumpled but otherwise respectable. Neither broke the comforting peacefulness for a long time, they just lay there and listened to each other breathe, thinking their own thoughts. At last, McGonagall stirred.  
"Some tea, Rubeus?" she asked.  
"Love some, thanks." he replied, croakily. Minerva climbed off the bed to get her wand and magick some up. She handed a steaming cup to Rubeus, who propped himself up against the headboard. Carefully balancing her own cup she climbed up next to him. Rubeus looked at her in astonishment, and Minerva blushed like a girl. They sipped their tea in a surprisingly companionable silence, as if every issue between them had faded with sleep, as their dreams when they woke.  
The knock at the door startled them both. Hagrid opened it cautiously; just the merest crack that would permit him to see outside. Dumbledore was on the doorstep, looking just a little worried.  
"Rubeus, you haven't seen Minerva anywhere about, have you?" he asked.  
"Well - eh - jus' how recently am I supposed teh'ave seen 'er?" replied Hagrid.  
"Oh, since last night." answered Dumbledore, his worried look beginning to fade into amusement in the face of Hagrid's obvious discomforture. Hagrid began to mutter unconvincing disclaimers somewhat incoherently, and Dumbledore eased the door open and slid inside.  
"I've been looking for you, Minerva." he said, apparently unsurprised to find her in Hagrid's hut in the morning in a rumpled condition. Minerva blushed only faintly, and replied calmly:  
"I've been her, obviously. I have reversed the memory charm and told him everything." Hagrid sat down next to her at the table, and Dumbledore took the chair opposite.  
"You've reversed it? Why?" asked Dumbledore anxiously.  
"It was time he knew about Vesta, now known as Beth Granger, and her daughter Hermione." McGonagall replied evenly. Dumbledore looked truly startled this time.  
"It hadn't occured to me before, but of course, of course..." he looked at them both. "The similarities are there once you look for them. But I thought you had been watching out every year in case a grandchild turned up?"  
"I stopped checking closely about seven years ago, figuring that she would have had children by 35, but obviously not." explained McGonagall.  
"Have you told her?" asked Dumbledore, his face very sober.  
"No." Mc Gonagall shook her head. "I had to tell Rubeus first, and now we must decide what to do together." She looked at Hagrid, and he gazed back, then put his arm around her, looking a little happier than he had done since last night.  
  
"What?" shouted Hermione. "You've asked my mother in for a parent-teacher meeting?"  
"Yes, indeed." replied McGonagall briskly. "You have already grown half an inch since we last measured you."  
Hermione, Harry and Ron stared at McGonagall. She had been acting very strangely since she had first begun to investigate Hermione's strange growth. She had bustled off to check things in her usual manner, but then had been pale and distracted the next time they had seen her, and then, just this morning, she had been missing at breakfast time. Even Dumbledore hadn't known where she'd been, because they had heard him asking Professor Flitwick. Now, she still looked pale, but more relaxed.  
"We've sent off an owl, she'll be here in three days." McGonagall smiled reassuringly and checked her watch. "Don't worry. Now, I must go." They watched her stride off to the front door, and Hermione looked out the window to see where she went.  
"Hagrid?" she exclaimed. "Why is McGonagall going somewhere with Hagrid?"  
"Who knows?" asked Ron. "It seems like your mystery has something to do with your mum."  
"There is no mystery." snapped Hermione defensively, turning away from the window. "I expect she just needs permission to do some tests on me or something."  
"She could get permission by owl." pointed out Ron. Hermione scowled.  
"Well, yes, I suppose it could have something to do with my birth grandparents." she admitted. "I wonder if ther's any way I could look them up and find out for myself what the mystery is. We should go to the library and see if we can find it."  
"It's possible." agreed Harry. "But I wonder what McGonagall wants with Hagrid?"  
"Well, tonight we'll search for birth parents, and tomorrow we'll visit Hagrid." said Hermione.  
"Looking up birth parents won't be easy, you know." protested Ron, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet by Hermione. "It's not fair that you're so big now." he complained irrelevantly. "You can push me round."  
"I wouldn't have to push you round if you didn't resist me." retorted Hermione.  
"If I didn't resist you," countered Ron, "I would spend all my life in the library turning into a worm." They continued to bicker as they headed off down the corridor with Harry.  
"What good will it do to find out who your birth grandparents are anyway?" asked Ron, still not convinced that Hermione's plan was better than waiting for McGonagall to explain what was happening. Hermione was still trying to convince him as they arrived at the library.  
  



	4. Chapter Four - Hermione gets Queasy and ...

Disclaimer as for other chapters. Thanks to all the fantastic people who took the time to write reviews. Rest assured that I will ferret out and read your stories with interest. Yeah, McGonagall and Hagrid is a bit strange, but I am really interested in the implications for Hermione's magickal relationship with Voldemort, since he is responsible for her existence. There must be some kind of responsibility thing happening. And I know that magickal is usually spent magical, but sometimes I just get into weirdo hippie mode, and this is one of them.  
  
  
Chapter Four - Hermione gets Queasy and Decides Not to Go to The Library.  
  
"Hagrid's been acting strangely for the last few days." noted Harry thoughtfully, as they strolled across the grounds. "He wasn't at breakfast this morning, or yesterday, and he's been wandering around like he's in a trance."  
"I hope he's not shrinking." chortled Ron. "Imagine if Hagrid and Hermione swapped sizes!" He hastily changed his chortle into a cough as Hermione glared at him. They reached the hut before the argument could go any further, much to Harry's relief. He knocked on the door, and inside there was a shriek, the sound of shattering china, and loud barking. Hagrid opened the door just the tiniest crack, and peeped round the edge.  
"Oh, it's yeh. Gave me a fright. What d'yeh want?"  
"We've come to visit." explained Harry, a little surprised. Hagrid flushed and shuffled his feet, avoiding their gaze. He looked back over his shoulder, flushed a little, and opened the door reluctantly.  
"Ok, then." he mumbled, still looking anywhere but at them, his whole appearance suggestive of a man feeling the earth fall away from under his guilty feet. After glancing curiously at him, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in. And stopped dead.  
Sitting at Hagrid's table with a cup of tea was Professor McGonagall, her robes unbuttoned over a dress and her hair loose down her back. She smiled at them without a trace of embarassment.  
"Well, Hagrid, anyone would think you were ashamed of me." she reproved him gently. Hagrid sat down next to her, still with a crumbling precipice expression.  
"Sit down an' have some tea." he muttered to Harry, Ron and Hermione, who sank rather nervelessly into chairs and clutched the mugs of tea that McGonagall magicked up for them. "Not used teh this kinda thing." he mumbled again.  
When Harry, Ron and Hermione left, half an hour later, they were still stunned. The news that there was 'somethin' goin' on' between McGonagall and Hagrid, as Hagrid put it, had left them speechless. They collapsed into chairs in the Common Room.  
"I don't think I can cope with any more surprises for a while." said Hermione faintly. "I'll just wait for the meeting instead of doing any more research." Ron heaved a sigh of relief. He hadn't enjoyed an evening spent poring over registers to discover information that would, he was sure, prove to be, at best, uncomfortable.  
  
With this resolution, Hermione did no more research. The night before the meeting Ron watched idly as Hermione again magickally lengthened her robes. She was still growing, and Ron now had to look up slightly at her, which galled him immensely. He prayed fervently for his next growth spurt to hit him. As he watched Hermione, he suddenly realised who she reminded him of. He blinked incredulously. He was seeing things.  
"I wonder what McGonagall will say tomorrow?" she wondered aloud, for a moment looking like she was on very uncertain ground.  
"Hermione!" gasped Ron. "D'you know who you look like?" Hermione looked over at him, a very severe expression on her face at being interrupted. Ron goggled.  
"It's too insane," he breathed, "but you look just like a cross between McGonagall and Hagrid." There was a seconds silence.  
"Nonsense." replied Hermione firmly. "I look like my mother." Harry gaped at Ron.  
"What did you say that for?" he asked. Ron shrugged his shoulders.  
"I dunno." he gestured toward Hermione vaguely. "The hair, the eyes, the apprehensive expression..." he looked at Hermione again, who was looking back at him furiously. "And that expression! It's just like McGonagall's!"  
"What rubbish." dismissed Hermione with a rather forced laugh. She gathered up her things to leave the room. "You're letting your imagination run away with you, Ron." Hermione marched off, her back very straight, her hair waving wildly with indignation.  



	5. Chapter Five - The Truth about Magickal ...

Disclaimer - as for all other chapters.  
  
Chapter Five - The Truth about Magickal Genes.  
  
For all her words of the previous night, Hermione looked pale, tired and anxious as she made her way to McGonagall's office. She strictly charged Ron and Harry to wait outside for her, and marched in as bravely as she could.  
Her friends sat apprehensively on the chairs outside, kicking thier heels and wondering vaguely what could be happening. Then they heard a scream. They leapt to their feet, the door burst open, and Hermione lauched herself into Ron's arms.  
"Oh, no!" she sobbed. "That's what Ron said...they say it's true, my mum... You were right..." Ron patted Hermione awkwardly on the back, managing to look both terrified and gratified at once. Harry stood by uselessly as the room's other occupants followed Hermione out.  
"Really, Potter, Weasley, can't we have some privacy?" snapped McGonagall. Hermione sobbed harder and clutched Ron tighter. Eventually, Hagrid herded them into the office, Ron supporting the still crying Hermione, whose tears had begun to soak through his robes. McGonagall told the whole story of Riddle's little trick, and that Hermione, being part giant, would be quite tall.  
"How tall?" asked Beth Granger, with creditable calm.  
"About 6'2" or so, I reckon." piped up Hagrid. Ron looked relieved, and patted Hermione's shoulder reassuringly.  
"Well, that's ok, Hermione. That's how tall my Dad thinks I'll grow, so you won't be taller than me, and, in fact, I'll ask you to the graduation ball with me now, so that you don't have to go with someone shorter than you." Hermione stopped crying at this, and lifted her head from his shoulder to give him a very reproachful look. Ron smiled at her, and she smiled back a little shakily.  
"Ok, then." she said. "And if you aren't tall enough, you have to wear high heels." Ron looked properly horrified, and began to remonstrate with Hermione, who began to insist. Beth Granger smiled weakly at her daughter and her friend. Hagrid squeezed McGonagall's hand.  
"Gonna be related to th' Weasleys." he said somewhat morosely. McGonagall squeezed back.  
"There are worse fates." she assured him, and succeeded admirably in creating a diversion when she performed a hover charm on herself so she could kiss Hagrid.  
  
----  
I'm still interested in the implications of Voldemort's responsibility for Hermione, but it seemed unnecessary to tie up the loose end in this story. I do have a future-fic planned (where Hermione is a Resistance Assasin with Sirius Black) so I may explore the issue there. Hope you enjoyed it, feel free to constructively critique my writing style, and watch out for more soon. 


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